Teachers in states across the country have been going on strike this year to demand higher wages. So, how much do teachers make? Using the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, GOBankingRates compiled the average teacher salary by state and included average elementary, middle school and high school salaries. Keep reading to see what the average teacher’s salary is in your state. You might be surprised to find that, in some states, teachers make more than most Americans.

How Much Teachers Make in Alabama

Average teacher’s salary: $49,487

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $49,040

Middle school teacher’s salary: $49,630

High school teacher’s salary: $49,790

Although not the highest pay for teachers in the U.S., there’s potential to make over $50,000 as a middle school special education teacher in Alabama. Fortunately, the cost of living in the state is also low.

How Much Teachers Make in Arizona

Average teacher’s salary: $45,313

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $44,220

Middle school teacher’s salary: $43,670

High school teacher’s salary: $48,050

Arizona is one of the lowest-paying states for teachers, but things are looking up. The governor recently agreed to a 20 percent raise for protesting teachers. The bump will get teachers’ pay closer to the average household income in Arizona of more than $70,000.

How Much Teachers Make in California

Average teacher’s salary: $76,523

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $77,990

Middle school teacher’s salary: $74,190

High school teacher’s salary: $77,390

California is the only state on the West Coast among the top-paying teacher salaries. The Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine region ranks high in particular for pay. Even though California teachers earn more than in other states, their salaries are still less than the low-income threshold of $83,450 in Orange County, which is one of the most expensive counties in the state.

How Much Teachers Make in Georgia

Georgia ranks 27th for pay, which puts it in the bottom half of the country. Most of the teaching positions are in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area.

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How Much Teachers Make in Hawaii

Average teacher’s salary: $59,507

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $59,790

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,480

High school teacher’s salary: $59,250

With only a handful of major cities in Hawaii, you can expect to find teaching positions in non-metropolitan areas. The state ranks 19th for average teacher salaries, and this relatively low pay makes it challenging when the cost of living in Hawaii is so high.

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vkbhat / Getty Images

How Much Teachers Make in Idaho

Average teacher’s salary: $49,743

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $47,630

Middle school teacher’s salary: $53,060

High school teacher’s salary: $48,540

Idaho has the 10th-lowest teacher salaries in the country. It’s expected, though, that teachers will experience a boost in pay over the next five years.

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How Much Teachers Make in Illinois

Average teacher’s salary: $65,877

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $62,620

Middle school teacher’s salary: $66,630

High school teacher’s salary: $68,380

Illinois has the 11th-highest average teacher pay. When compared to the 50 largest school districts across the country, Chicago public schools pay the highest educator salaries.

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How Much Teachers Make in Indiana

Average teacher’s salary: $51,463

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,310

Middle school teacher’s salary: $51,410

High school teacher’s salary: $52,670

Inflation-adjusted salaries in Indiana have dropped by more than 13 percent over the last 15 years, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

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How Much Teachers Make in Iowa

Average teacher’s salary: $54,587

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $53,710

Middle school teacher’s salary: $55,560

High school teacher’s salary: $54,490

Iowa ranks 29th-highest for teacher salaries. Comparatively, the state ranks in the top 10 when adjusted for the cost of living, according to NPR.

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How Much Teachers Make in Kansas

Average teacher’s salary: $50,437

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,200

Middle school teacher’s salary: $50,640

High school teacher’s salary: $50,470

Teacher salaries in Kansas lag behind other regional states, and it’s the ninth-lowest-paying state for high school teachers. The good news is the governor has called for a $600 million increase in yearly public school funding over five years to boost pay.

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How Much Teachers Make in Kentucky

Average teacher’s salary: $54,080

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $53,140

Middle school teacher’s salary: $53,800

High school teacher’s salary: $55,300

Salaries for teachers in Kentucky fall below the national average of $58,198. You can likely live comfortably on a teacher’s salary in Kentucky due to its low cost of living.

How Much Teachers Make in Montana

If you want to make more money in Montana as an educator, work in administration. The mean wage for an education administrator for elementary and secondary school is $83,120.

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How Much Teachers Make in Nebraska

Average teacher’s salary: $57,103

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,070

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,370

High school teacher’s salary: $55,870

The base salary for teachers in Nebraska is considerably lower than the mean. For teachers in Omaha, for example, the base is $41,150, according to the Nebraska State Education Association.

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How Much Teachers Make in Nevada

Average teacher’s salary: $56,803

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $55,700

Middle school teacher’s salary: $57,500

High school teacher’s salary: $57,210

Nevada is truly middle ground for teacher pay — it ranks 25th in the country. Because salaries are so much higher than in Arizona (47th in the country), some teachers have been enticed to cross state lines.

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How Much Teachers Make in New Hampshire

Average teacher’s salary: $59,073

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $57,470

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,680

High school teacher’s salary: $60,070

New Hampshire ranks 21st out of all states when it comes to average teacher’s salary, and it’s just higher than the $58,198 national average.

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How Much Teachers Make in New Jersey

Average teacher’s salary: $72,460

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $69,500

Middle school teacher’s salary: $71,450

High school teacher’s salary: $76,430

New Jersey teachers do well for themselves, ranking sixth-highest nationally for overall pay. There are challenges with living in the state, however. For one, New Jersey is the worst state for first-time homebuyers.

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How Much Teachers Make in New Mexico

Average teacher’s salary: $56,613

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $59,060

Middle school teacher’s salary: $54,720

High school teacher’s salary: $56,060

The New Mexico governor recently signed a bill to increase the lowest teacher salary from $34,000 to $36,000.

How Much Teachers Make in Ohio

Ohio pays teachers favorably and above the national average of $58,198. The state ranks 18th for overall average teaching salaries.

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How Much Teachers Make in Oklahoma

Average teacher’s salary: $41,483

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $40,530

Middle school teacher’s salary: $42,040

High school teacher’s salary: $41,880

The average salary for teachers in Oklahoma is the lowest in the country. There has been progress in Oklahoma, however. State legislators approved a $6,100 pay raise for teachers in March, though this will only boost pay to the sixth-lowest in the country.

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How Much Teachers Make in Oregon

Average teacher’s salary: $69,643

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $65,640

Middle school teacher’s salary: $73,630

High school teacher’s salary: $69,660

Oregon teachers have the seventh-highest average salaries in the country. Elementary school teachers are relatively underpaid, earning an average salary that’s the 10th-highest.

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How Much Teachers Make in Pennsylvania

Average teacher’s salary: $65,553

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $65,370

Middle school teacher’s salary: $65,270

High school teacher’s salary: $66,020

Pennsylvania teachers have the 12th-highest average teaching salaries out of all 50 states. For teachers in Philadelphia, the rent in the city is affordable, but the cost of living is still much higher than the national average.

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How Much Teachers Make in Rhode Island

Average teacher’s salary: $67,050

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $67,990

Middle school teacher’s salary: $65,540

High school teacher’s salary: $67,620

Rhode Island ranks 10th in the country for teacher salaries. Teachers will need the income, as Rhode Island is not a tax-friendly state — its sales tax tends to be higher and its property tax rate is the 10th highest in the U.S.

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How Much Teachers Make in South Carolina

Average teacher’s salary: $52,290

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,510

Middle school teacher’s salary: $52,400

High school teacher’s salary: $53,960

South Carolina rewards those willing to teach in rural and low-income areas. The Cherokee County School District, for example, offers a signing bonus of up to $10,000, reported the Post and Courier.

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How Much Teachers Make in South Dakota

Average teacher’s salary: $42,023

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $41,570

Middle school teacher’s salary: $42,520

High school teacher’s salary: $41,980

South Dakota is the second-lowest-paying state for teachers. However, teacher salary did increase by nearly 9 percent in 2017.

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How Much Teachers Make in Tennessee

Average teacher’s salary: $50,590

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,320

Middle school teacher’s salary: $50,060

High school teacher’s salary: $51,390

Shelby County, home to Memphis, is the highest-paying county in the state for teachers, with the average salary at $57,843, according to the Tennessee Education Association.

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How Much Teachers Make in Texas

Average teacher’s salary: $57,087

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,760

Middle school teacher’s salary: $56,670

High school teacher’s salary: $57,830

The Texas Education Agency reported that the 2017 to 2018 starting salary schedule for a new teacher with no experience was only $28,080.

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How Much Teachers Make in Utah

Average teacher’s salary: $55,460

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $54,750

Middle school teacher’s salary: $56,090

High school teacher’s salary: $55,540

Although Utah ranks 28th in the country for highest average teacher pay, it ranks second in the region behind Wyoming.

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How Much Teachers Make in Vermont

Average teacher’s salary: $60,533

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $61,090

Middle school teacher’s salary: $58,920

High school teacher’s salary: $61,590

Vermont teachers receive the 17th-highest average salary in the country. The state is one of just two where median household income for middle-class families grew between 1999 and 2014, another GOBankingRates study found.

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How Much Teachers Make in Virginia

Average teacher’s salary: $68,707

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $68,460

Middle school teacher’s salary: $67,770

High school teacher’s salary: $69,890

Alexandria City Schools offered the highest average salaries for the 2018 fiscal year, according to the Virginia Department of Education. The average pay was $76,251.

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How Much Teachers Make in Washington

Average teacher’s salary: $63,477

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $62,580

Middle school teacher’s salary: $63,090

High school teacher’s salary: $64,760

The Washington Education Association is hoping to receive a big bump in pay through negotiations in coming months after legislators recently approved billions in educational funding. Right now, the state has the 14th-highest average salary for teachers in the country.

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How Much Teachers Make in West Virginia

Average teacher’s salary: $45,697

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $45,530

Middle school teacher’s salary: $45,000

High school teacher’s salary: $46,560

West Virginia teachers recently went on strike and closed schools in demand for better wages. The state pays the 46th-lowest salary in the nation.

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How Much Teachers Make in Wisconsin

Average teacher’s salary: $57,607

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,940

Middle school teacher’s salary: $58,560

High school teacher’s salary: $57,320

The average teacher’s salary in Wisconsin is in the middle of the pack, but some districts pay substantially more. For example, Elmbrook School District pays teachers an average of $80,865, according to Niche’s 2018 rankings.

Methodology: GOBankingRates determined teacher’s pay in every state by analyzing the mean wage of elementary, middle, and secondary (high school) teachers and calculated the average of those three salaries. Data is sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2017 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.

About the Author

Lia Sestric is a Pittsburgh native and graduate from E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Her bachelor’s degree is in Broadcast News. She has written and produced television news stories in the Los Angeles area and Charleston, S.C. In 2012, Lia began to freelance write on the side about higher education and careers for Yahoo! Finance. Lia is now based in the Washington, D.C. area and continues to work on national and local writing contracts. Her work frequently appears on major sites like Yahoo, The Huffington Post, MSN, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, USA Today, in addition to GOBankingRates.

You can follow her on Twitter @liasestric and Facebook @LSHWrites. Lia can be reached by email lia.sestric@gmail.com.

Teachers in states across the country have been going on strike this year to demand higher wages. So, how much do teachers make? Using the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, GOBankingRates compiled the average teacher salary by state and included average elementary, middle school and high school salaries. Keep reading to see what the average teacher’s salary is in your state. You might be surprised to find that, in some states, teachers make more than most Americans.

1. How Much Teachers Make in Alabama

Average teacher’s salary: $49,487

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $49,040

Middle school teacher’s salary: $49,630

High school teacher’s salary: $49,790

Although not the highest pay for teachers in the U.S., there’s potential to make over $50,000 as a middle school special education teacher in Alabama. Fortunately, the cost of living in the state is also low.

3. How Much Teachers Make in Arizona

Average teacher’s salary: $45,313

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $44,220

Middle school teacher’s salary: $43,670

High school teacher’s salary: $48,050

Arizona is one of the lowest-paying states for teachers, but things are looking up. The governor recently agreed to a 20 percent raise for protesting teachers. The bump will get teachers’ pay closer to the average household income in Arizona of more than $70,000.

5. How Much Teachers Make in California

Average teacher’s salary: $76,523

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $77,990

Middle school teacher’s salary: $74,190

High school teacher’s salary: $77,390

California is the only state on the West Coast among the top-paying teacher salaries. The Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine region ranks high in particular for pay. Even though California teachers earn more than in other states, their salaries are still less than the low-income threshold of $83,450 in Orange County, which is one of the most expensive counties in the state.

10. How Much Teachers Make in Georgia

Georgia ranks 27th for pay, which puts it in the bottom half of the country. Most of the teaching positions are in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area.

SergiyN / Getty Images/iStockphoto

11. How Much Teachers Make in Hawaii

Average teacher’s salary: $59,507

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $59,790

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,480

High school teacher’s salary: $59,250

With only a handful of major cities in Hawaii, you can expect to find teaching positions in non-metropolitan areas. The state ranks 19th for average teacher salaries, and this relatively low pay makes it challenging when the cost of living in Hawaii is so high.

vkbhat / Getty Images

12. How Much Teachers Make in Idaho

Average teacher’s salary: $49,743

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $47,630

Middle school teacher’s salary: $53,060

High school teacher’s salary: $48,540

Idaho has the 10th-lowest teacher salaries in the country. It’s expected, though, that teachers will experience a boost in pay over the next five years.

marchello74 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

13. How Much Teachers Make in Illinois

Average teacher’s salary: $65,877

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $62,620

Middle school teacher’s salary: $66,630

High school teacher’s salary: $68,380

Illinois has the 11th-highest average teacher pay. When compared to the 50 largest school districts across the country, Chicago public schools pay the highest educator salaries.

Ron_Thomas / Getty Images/iStockphoto

14. How Much Teachers Make in Indiana

Average teacher’s salary: $51,463

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,310

Middle school teacher’s salary: $51,410

High school teacher’s salary: $52,670

Inflation-adjusted salaries in Indiana have dropped by more than 13 percent over the last 15 years, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

15. How Much Teachers Make in Iowa

Average teacher’s salary: $54,587

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $53,710

Middle school teacher’s salary: $55,560

High school teacher’s salary: $54,490

Iowa ranks 29th-highest for teacher salaries. Comparatively, the state ranks in the top 10 when adjusted for the cost of living, according to NPR.

LawrenceSawyer / Getty Images

16. How Much Teachers Make in Kansas

Average teacher’s salary: $50,437

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,200

Middle school teacher’s salary: $50,640

High school teacher’s salary: $50,470

Teacher salaries in Kansas lag behind other regional states, and it’s the ninth-lowest-paying state for high school teachers. The good news is the governor has called for a $600 million increase in yearly public school funding over five years to boost pay.

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

17. How Much Teachers Make in Kentucky

Average teacher’s salary: $54,080

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $53,140

Middle school teacher’s salary: $53,800

High school teacher’s salary: $55,300

Salaries for teachers in Kentucky fall below the national average of $58,198. You can likely live comfortably on a teacher’s salary in Kentucky due to its low cost of living.

26. How Much Teachers Make in Montana

If you want to make more money in Montana as an educator, work in administration. The mean wage for an education administrator for elementary and secondary school is $83,120.

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

27. How Much Teachers Make in Nebraska

Average teacher’s salary: $57,103

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,070

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,370

High school teacher’s salary: $55,870

The base salary for teachers in Nebraska is considerably lower than the mean. For teachers in Omaha, for example, the base is $41,150, according to the Nebraska State Education Association.

Mlenny / Getty Images/iStockphoto

28. How Much Teachers Make in Nevada

Average teacher’s salary: $56,803

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $55,700

Middle school teacher’s salary: $57,500

High school teacher’s salary: $57,210

Nevada is truly middle ground for teacher pay — it ranks 25th in the country. Because salaries are so much higher than in Arizona (47th in the country), some teachers have been enticed to cross state lines.

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images/iStockphoto

29. How Much Teachers Make in New Hampshire

Average teacher’s salary: $59,073

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $57,470

Middle school teacher’s salary: $59,680

High school teacher’s salary: $60,070

New Hampshire ranks 21st out of all states when it comes to average teacher’s salary, and it’s just higher than the $58,198 national average.

Ultima_Gaina / Getty Images/iStockphoto

30. How Much Teachers Make in New Jersey

Average teacher’s salary: $72,460

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $69,500

Middle school teacher’s salary: $71,450

High school teacher’s salary: $76,430

New Jersey teachers do well for themselves, ranking sixth-highest nationally for overall pay. There are challenges with living in the state, however. For one, New Jersey is the worst state for first-time homebuyers.

Davel5957 / Getty Images

31. How Much Teachers Make in New Mexico

Average teacher’s salary: $56,613

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $59,060

Middle school teacher’s salary: $54,720

High school teacher’s salary: $56,060

The New Mexico governor recently signed a bill to increase the lowest teacher salary from $34,000 to $36,000.

35. How Much Teachers Make in Ohio

Ohio pays teachers favorably and above the national average of $58,198. The state ranks 18th for overall average teaching salaries.

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

36. How Much Teachers Make in Oklahoma

Average teacher’s salary: $41,483

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $40,530

Middle school teacher’s salary: $42,040

High school teacher’s salary: $41,880

The average salary for teachers in Oklahoma is the lowest in the country. There has been progress in Oklahoma, however. State legislators approved a $6,100 pay raise for teachers in March, though this will only boost pay to the sixth-lowest in the country.

jose1983 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

37. How Much Teachers Make in Oregon

Average teacher’s salary: $69,643

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $65,640

Middle school teacher’s salary: $73,630

High school teacher’s salary: $69,660

Oregon teachers have the seventh-highest average salaries in the country. Elementary school teachers are relatively underpaid, earning an average salary that’s the 10th-highest.

Pgiam / Getty Images/iStockphoto

38. How Much Teachers Make in Pennsylvania

Average teacher’s salary: $65,553

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $65,370

Middle school teacher’s salary: $65,270

High school teacher’s salary: $66,020

Pennsylvania teachers have the 12th-highest average teaching salaries out of all 50 states. For teachers in Philadelphia, the rent in the city is affordable, but the cost of living is still much higher than the national average.

SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto

39. How Much Teachers Make in Rhode Island

Average teacher’s salary: $67,050

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $67,990

Middle school teacher’s salary: $65,540

High school teacher’s salary: $67,620

Rhode Island ranks 10th in the country for teacher salaries. Teachers will need the income, as Rhode Island is not a tax-friendly state — its sales tax tends to be higher and its property tax rate is the 10th highest in the U.S.

SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto

40. How Much Teachers Make in South Carolina

Average teacher’s salary: $52,290

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,510

Middle school teacher’s salary: $52,400

High school teacher’s salary: $53,960

South Carolina rewards those willing to teach in rural and low-income areas. The Cherokee County School District, for example, offers a signing bonus of up to $10,000, reported the Post and Courier.

rruntsch / Getty Images/iStockphoto

41. How Much Teachers Make in South Dakota

Average teacher’s salary: $42,023

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $41,570

Middle school teacher’s salary: $42,520

High school teacher’s salary: $41,980

South Dakota is the second-lowest-paying state for teachers. However, teacher salary did increase by nearly 9 percent in 2017.

f11photo / Getty Images/iStockphoto

42. How Much Teachers Make in Tennessee

Average teacher’s salary: $50,590

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $50,320

Middle school teacher’s salary: $50,060

High school teacher’s salary: $51,390

Shelby County, home to Memphis, is the highest-paying county in the state for teachers, with the average salary at $57,843, according to the Tennessee Education Association.

SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto

43. How Much Teachers Make in Texas

Average teacher’s salary: $57,087

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,760

Middle school teacher’s salary: $56,670

High school teacher’s salary: $57,830

The Texas Education Agency reported that the 2017 to 2018 starting salary schedule for a new teacher with no experience was only $28,080.

strickke / Getty Images/iStockphoto

44. How Much Teachers Make in Utah

Average teacher’s salary: $55,460

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $54,750

Middle school teacher’s salary: $56,090

High school teacher’s salary: $55,540

Although Utah ranks 28th in the country for highest average teacher pay, it ranks second in the region behind Wyoming.

DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images

45. How Much Teachers Make in Vermont

Average teacher’s salary: $60,533

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $61,090

Middle school teacher’s salary: $58,920

High school teacher’s salary: $61,590

Vermont teachers receive the 17th-highest average salary in the country. The state is one of just two where median household income for middle-class families grew between 1999 and 2014, another GOBankingRates study found.

traveler1116 / Getty Images

46. How Much Teachers Make in Virginia

Average teacher’s salary: $68,707

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $68,460

Middle school teacher’s salary: $67,770

High school teacher’s salary: $69,890

Alexandria City Schools offered the highest average salaries for the 2018 fiscal year, according to the Virginia Department of Education. The average pay was $76,251.

ferrantraite / Getty Images/iStockphoto

47. How Much Teachers Make in Washington

Average teacher’s salary: $63,477

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $62,580

Middle school teacher’s salary: $63,090

High school teacher’s salary: $64,760

The Washington Education Association is hoping to receive a big bump in pay through negotiations in coming months after legislators recently approved billions in educational funding. Right now, the state has the 14th-highest average salary for teachers in the country.

Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

48. How Much Teachers Make in West Virginia

Average teacher’s salary: $45,697

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $45,530

Middle school teacher’s salary: $45,000

High school teacher’s salary: $46,560

West Virginia teachers recently went on strike and closed schools in demand for better wages. The state pays the 46th-lowest salary in the nation.

Ron_Thomas / Getty Images

49. How Much Teachers Make in Wisconsin

Average teacher’s salary: $57,607

Elementary school teacher’s salary: $56,940

Middle school teacher’s salary: $58,560

High school teacher’s salary: $57,320

The average teacher’s salary in Wisconsin is in the middle of the pack, but some districts pay substantially more. For example, Elmbrook School District pays teachers an average of $80,865, according to Niche’s 2018 rankings.

Methodology: GOBankingRates determined teacher’s pay in every state by analyzing the mean wage of elementary, middle, and secondary (high school) teachers and calculated the average of those three salaries. Data is sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2017 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.

About the Author

Lia Sestric is a Pittsburgh native and graduate from E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Her bachelor’s degree is in Broadcast News. She has written and produced television news stories in the Los Angeles area and Charleston, S.C. In 2012, Lia began to freelance write on the side about higher education and careers for Yahoo! Finance. Lia is now based in the Washington, D.C. area and continues to work on national and local writing contracts. Her work frequently appears on major sites like Yahoo, The Huffington Post, MSN, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, USA Today, in addition to GOBankingRates.

You can follow her on Twitter @liasestric and Facebook @LSHWrites. Lia can be reached by email lia.sestric@gmail.com.

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